February 24, 2008Comments are closed.attitude, shelter procedure
Yesterday, I went to the hardware store looking for a door handle. I had the handle with me (which fell off – hooray for old crap houses!)Â and I’ve walked up and down every isle looking for a similar one without success. Defeated, I’ve attracted the attention of a staff member and I waved my door handle at them.
“I’m sorry no – we don’t have oneâ€. And that was that.
I really do need a handle on my door, so I jumped into the car to trek to the next nearest hardware store. The man at the front desk informed me that it indeed was a tricky handle to get a hold of, but that if I left my number he’d investigate for me.
Two hours later I got a call; he’d located the door handle and it would be in store in a week or so.
Now, neither store had what I was looking for, but guess which store I’ll go to in the future? Which store I’ll recommend to people? But more importantly, which store do you think would be more profitable in the long term?
If you want people to support you, then you can’t let an interaction with you be a waste of their time. You have to invite them in and not let them leave until you have found a solution for them. Certainly you might not have the pet they want available at that very moment, but what can you do to help them find one? Get smart people on your phones and give them the resources they need to become solution finders. “Sorry we don’t have one†simply doesn’t cut it anymore.
If you think of every interaction with a client as a chance to be remarkable, you’ll quickly build a base of fanatically devoted supporters who will spread your message to others.
